The Moon Warriors Second Chance

Chapter 4

AMARIS

“Hello, mate.”

I looked at my mate and Bri, who was still clinging to his arm, looking pleased, causing an uneasy feeling in my gut. This must be the reason she wanted me to be at her party. I bet there wasn’t an omega who had an accident in the kitchen. Whoever he is must have shown up before the other guests and figured out I was his mate. But how he knew who I was is still a mystery. At least until Kyle shows up next to them, grinning from ear to ear, making the feeling in my gut worse with each passing second.

“I’m sorry, Amaris. If I had known this was going to happen, I would have tried harder to convince you to leave sooner. This is going to hurt, but I’ll take the pain for you. Don’t satisfy them by letting them see you hurt,” Artemis snarled in my mind.

I knew what she was hinting at, but my mate wouldn’t reject me without knowing me, would he? My mind is going a thousand miles a second, and there’s a small crowd gathering around us trying to see what’s happening. I can barely make sense of what’s happening.

“I see you two have finally met. I’ve been waiting for this all day.” Kyle said, looking like it was his birthday instead of Bri’s. They share a look and Bri nods, and I figure out what he means right before my mate says the words.

“I, future Alpha Kevin Reed of the Blood Shadow Pack, reject you, Amaris Silver, as my mate and future Luna.” Sending a sharp pain right through my chest, making my knees weak. Artemis whimpers and retreats into the back of my head. I feel like I can barely breathe. Just as quickly as the pain starts, it stops. Artemis must be taking it like she said she would.

I straighten my spine and look into his eyes. “I, Amaris Silver, accept your rejection, future Alpha Kevin Reed.”

Kevin cries out and falls to his knees, almost taking Bri with him as she and my brother look at me in shock. They must have thought because I didn’t succumb to the pain like they thought I would that he could take it as well. He’s clutching his chest while the crowd around me looks on in disbelief. Truthfully, I’m a little stunned too. Only I’m stunned because my mate, the person who was supposed to love me unconditionally, just rejected me. I don’t know what else I could have expected from someone who’s friends with my siblings and, without a doubt, listened to every horrible lie they told him about me. The crowd, if I had to guess, is stunned that I, a fragile-looking she-wolf, am in no obvious pain from a rejection that just sent an Alpha to his knees.

While Kevin is still in agony on the ground, Bri turns her attention to me slapping me across my face.

“How dare you accept his rejection! You should be the one in pain on the ground. You ruin everything!” she screeched.

I laugh. “I wasn’t supposed to accept his rejection? What should I have done? Live in pain every second of every day with half a mate bond? Never able to find my second chance mate? What about when he sleeps with another? I’m supposed to bear the pain of betrayal just because he couldn’t take the pain of rejecting his mate?” Surprise flashes across Bri’s face for a split second before she can mask it.

“Oh, that’s what you wanted to happen, wasn’t it? You wanted me to feel the betrayal pain. Sorry to ruin your plan, but no way in hell that’s going to happen. I’ve taken so much crap from everyone in this pack, but I refuse to be forced into that. It’s too late now, anyway.”

Murmurs from the crowd are growing louder. Some agree with me, it’s cruel to subject your mate to the pain of betrayal on purpose. The friends of my siblings and Kevin are saying how I should have dealt with it. They’re saying I’m the cruel one for causing Kevin so much pain. Others are debating over the fact that I’m in no pain; saying the Goddess must be helping me, or I must have a powerful wolf. The crowd is growing bigger and obviously, this isn’t how Bri planned her grand debut if her panic-stricken face was anything to go by. There’s no way I could walk out of here right now. Not with all these eyes on me. I look around, trying to figure out a way to get out of here unseen, when a triumphant look crosses Bri’s face.

“MOM! DAD! Amaris is ruining my party!” She yells to our parents.

Shit. This keeps getting worse. I’m almost certain I’ll have to leave later than planned. They come walking up, looking surprised at the scene before them. Kevin is still on the ground, although he looks slightly better than he did a minute ago. I’m sure I have a handprint on my face from where she slapped me, and the entire party converged on the scene before them.

“What is going on over here? What have you done now, Amaris?” Alpha Robert asked.

“She rejected Kevin! She just rejected him without even trying to get to know him. She said she didn’t want a mate who was friendly with her family, and how she hoped her next mate was more powerful than him!” Bri said.

I balked. Surely someone who saw the scene would speak up and say that wasn’t how it happened. But when I looked around at the crowd, no one would meet my eyes. I scoff, cowards. It doesn’t help that Kevin is still on the ground in pain while I’m standing, unaffected.

“That’s not-“ I started.

“How dare you reject your mate! You think you could do better than the future Alpha of the Blood Shadow Pack? You would have been lucky to have him as your mate!” Alpha Robert roared, causing everyone to take a step back. He stalks toward me and as much as I want to turn and run, I know now’s not the time. If I tried, someone would stop me and my punishment would be much worse. I barely had time to brace myself before he struck me hard across the face, causing me to stumble. Then he punched me in the stomach, forcing the breath from my lungs and making me crumble. He hit me over and over, yelling about how I’m a disgrace, how he should have killed me when I was a child, and other nonsense I couldn’t make out without care that people were watching.

“Why are you doing this to me? What have I done to make you treat your child this way?” I screamed at him. I probably shouldn’t have. But everything has taken its toll on me and the words are out of my mouth before I can stop them.

Alpha Robert freezes mid kick and looks me over. Something passes in his eyes, but it’s gone before I can identify it. He smiles like I just gave him the best gift in the world.

“Why? I guess it’s about time we told you. You want to know why everyone in the pack treats to like a slave, and I let them? Why I have no issues with people beating you as they please?”

I nod, and he laughs.

“Because you aren’t my child.”